


Heartache

by FandomsUnite17



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), The Littles (Cartoon)
Genre: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders Are Siblings, GT!, Grief/Mourning, Human Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Human Logic | Logan Sanders, Little!Patton, Logan Baxter, Loss, Loss of Parent(s), Loss of Sibling(s), Patton Daisybud, Roman Baxter, Virgil Patchwork, little!Virgil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25713868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomsUnite17/pseuds/FandomsUnite17
Summary: Logan and Roman Baxter lost their father when they were both less than three years old.  Now their mother is in the hospital and they are about to get the worst news possible. Now forced to live together in Logan's home out in the country, they must learn to cope with the fact that the only people they have left are each other. Until two new guests move into their walls. Patton Daisybud and Virgil Patchwork are cousins who lived in the only other house nearby until five days ago when the house caught fire. They were the only ones outside at the time, and so, now with no family but each other, they are forced to travel to the only other house available, the large home of a single, quiet man. It should have been perfect. But when they got there, they were met with not only a second human but piles of boxes and furniture as well. And worst yet, they have a dog. But the dog becomes the least of their worries when Patton hides in the wrong place one night and is discovered.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	1. Part One

“Hey, are ya comin’, Virge?”  
“Yeah, I’m coming, just gimme a minute!” he hollered back, halfway between a scream and a whisper. He glanced at the door to the small shed, his long tail curled nervously around one leg. “Are you sure no one’s gonna come out here?”   
“Yeah, of course! Mom specifically said they never come out here, and she goes scavenging all the time!”   
“But what if Aunt Clarisse is wrong? What if today is the one day they do come out here?”   
“Hey, they won’t. Look, this whole place is overgrown! No human’s been here for… ever! Now come on! Use those vines I climbed!”   
Looking up at the old shelf, Virgil suddenly felt his stomach drop. His cousin was leaning right over the edge of the shelf. One wrong movement, even just a tiny shift, could send him right over! He felt the blood start to drain from his face as his mind threw worst-case-scenarios at his relentless imagination. “Pat! Get away from there! What are you thinking?!”   
“I’m fine! I’m not gonna fall off, I know what I’m doing! Now get up here! You don’t even have to go near the edge!”   
“I… I really think we should go! What if we get all the way up there and then a human shows up?! We wouldn’t be able to hide!”   
Patton smiled down at him softly. “They won’t. Ma said she overheard the humans saying they were gonna let this place just rot out. They’re not gonna see us, I swear.” Still, Virgil glanced back nervously at the open door. “Hey… We can just go if you need to. Do you wanna go down to the lake? We could race through the reeds! Yeah?”   
Virgil took a deep breath. Normally, he would have said yes, definitely, please let’s go to the lake and race through the reeds, where it’s safe and predictable and comfortable, but this time… He took another deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. Patton had brought him out here to the shack, specifically for him. He was risking just as much as he was being here, and was doing it for him. He had brought him out here to help him work on his technitophobia. And he couldn’t give up yet. Not when Patton had worked so hard for him. Making his final decision, he grabbed two handfuls of dirt from the floor of the shack and spread them in a line under his eyes, stopping at his ears. He narrowed his eyes in determination as he spoke, voice shaking. “No. I… I-I wanna get better at this. I’m… going to get better at this. I can’t be afraid of the walls forever.”   
“Ah, yeah, that’s the spirit! I love it when you go all warrior paint Virgil!” Forcing a smile, he grabbed hold of the vines crawling up the walls and began climbing, his long mouse-like tail curling even tighter around his leg. He could hear his cousin immediately start cheering him on, and even though his whole body was shaking he pressed on. This was why he was here. Just as he was convincing himself of that, his fear slapped him in the face. But why was he here at all?! Why was he trying to get over this phobia in the first place?! He had perfect reason to be afraid of humans, and anything they made! In fact, he should be afraid of humans! Most littles were! But not like this, another part of him pointed out. Most littles don’t go completely paralyzed at simply seeing a wall they’re not used to, or a new human object come in from a scavenge, or hearing a footstep from the other side of the walls. He had a tightly packed room in their home with thick foam covering each wall to block out noise while he slept, but it was never enough. Nothing was ever enough. That’s why he was doing this. To make it enough. To get his first solid night’s sleep in years. To stop the day terrors and the nightmares. That’s why he was here right now. “Hey, hey, Virge, don’t stop now! You’re almost there! You’re almost here, just a little bit longer!” He blinked and forced himself to focus on what he was doing. He’d stopped moving at some point and was clinging to the vines desperately, arms and feet strung through them. “Come on, kiddo, you can do it!” Virgil smiled at the name and slowly started to untangle himself from the vines. They used to play family a lot when they were younger, and Patton always took the role of the dad, leaving Virgil as the son. And he always called him that whenever they were playing. It had turned into a nickname of sorts Patton used every once in a while, most of the time when he was trying to cheer Virgil up or (much more commonly) when he was trying to calm him down. Virgil sometimes felt a tiny bit calmer just hearing that name. He took a deep breath and kept climbing. He didn’t dare look up or down until he got there, but Patton had said he was almost there, right? Right. He was almost there. He could do this. Just a bit… longer. Patton’s voice slowly grew closer and closer until he caught the edge of the shelf in his peripheral. Yes. He was there! Finally, he looked up just slightly to find his cousin smiling down at him, hand extended. He scooted over to him and took it, letting himself be pulled onto the old shelf. “You did it! Look, Virge, you did it! You got up here!” Virgil left the edge of the shelf before turning and looking out at the room. He really did it. He was really up here. He sighed in relief. Despite what most of his family thought, he absolutely loved heights. He loved being this high up. Slowly, he got on hands and knees and crept just close enough to the edge that he could see over it, and he stared in wonder. “I’ve never understood why you like heights so much.”   
Virgil shrugged. “Me neither, honestly.”   
“Yeah, I know. Really, though…”   
He shrugged again. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just because humans don’t look up often, so it’s safer…”   
"Plus it makes me feel bigger. It makes me feel powerful, being able to see so much at once." He’d never told him that, and he still wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like it was a secret or something. But for some reason he just… didn’t want him to know.   
They stayed up there most of the day, talking, playing games in the dust, and taking a lot of time for Virgil to just look at everything. At the building itself, at the tools, the tables and cabinets… Just when they decided they were both too hungry to stay, they heard screaming — the humans. And it sounded like something was… crackling? They both glanced at each other and started the climb back down. When they got there, they rushed to the door and stepped outside. They both froze in horror. The humans had run outside and were standing in front of the house, which was… they had never seen so much fire in their lives. And even as they stood there, it licked over every inch, spreading over the rest of the building within seconds. Neither of them knew how long they stood there, paralyzed, and stared at the blaze, but finally Patton broke his trance and pulled them both back inside the shed. He was trying desperately to hold back his tears, for Virgil if nothing else, as the realization finally seemed to hit him. The human’s house was on fire. The entire thing was on fire. And when they left this morning, their entire family was inside. At home. Inside the walls of that building. And they’d even said no one was planning on going scavenging that day. They were the only ones outside. The rest of their family never left the building. Their entire family was in there. Inside that building. That building, which was on fire. Their grandmother, their parents, their siblings… Everyone was inside that fire. There’s no way they could have gotten out in time. Their home was in the walls of the second floor. They could never have gotten out in time. Finally, something in his mind seemed to click and he stood up and made a break for the house. They had to be alive. They had to be. They had to be.  
When Virgil finally felt like he existed again, he jumped to his feet and ran out after his cousin as fast as his legs would take him. After about two feet, he finally got close enough to grab his tail, causing him to face-plant straight forward. “P-Pat, you can’t!”   
“They’re - th-they - they’re suh-still in th-there!” He rolled onto his back and sat back up, getting ready to stand up and make a run for the house again, when Virgil sat down firmly on his legs and grabbed his wrists, staring him dead in the eyes. Just then there was a loud crash and they both looked to the house to see the top half crumble and fall into the lower floor, and they both felt something inside them drop. For a few moments, they sat there like that, Patton sobbing, defeated. They lived on the top floor. The floor that just fell to a thousand pieces. He knew there was no chance they could still be alive inside that fire, he just desperately didn’t want to believe it. Then Virgil broke into sobs as he realized exactly what was happening, exactly why Patton was running straight towards the fire, and his limbs betrayed him. He dropped straight forwards right onto his cousin, completely limp as he howled with sobs. Patton grabbed around him and hugged tight, so tight it hurt, but Virgil didn’t care how tight he hugged him. “Virge,” Patton managed out through a sob. He howled miserably, then dug his face into Virgil’s shoulder and sobbed out, “They’re-’re g-gone!” \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Roman Baxter: When do you get off tonight?  
Roman Baxter: Will be able to see Mom?  
Logan Baxter: My shift ends at eleven PM; So, no, I will not be able to visit the hospital tonight.  
Logan Baxter: How is she fairing?  
Logan Baxter: Roman?  
Roman Baxter: It's not good.  
Roman Baxter: I don't know how much longer she has

Logan sighed as he pulled out of the driveway. He wished he didn’t have to work. But he couldn’t simply not go to work whenever she wasn’t looking good. She hadn’t been looking good for a long time. Their mother had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer more than a year ago and had been steadily but slowly decreasing since then. His brother, Roman, was hopeful more than anything, but he knew the chances of their mother surviving were extremely slim, especially given the survival rates of her particular strain of cancer. Still, there were times he liked to pretend he was hopeful. Times like now, as he pulled into the parking lot of the research center he worked at. She would be fine. He would visit her first thing the next morning. Yes, that would be adequate.  
When he went on break later that day, there was a single text added from his brother.

Roman Baxter: doctors said she mightnotmake the nighyr

  
He felt his breath catch in his throat. This was serious. This was very serious. He felt his heartbeat speed up in panic. Visiting hours ended at ten thirty, and his shift didn’t end until eleven. What if she really didn’t make the night? What if he loses his chance to say goodbye because of a job?! He forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down. The doctors had said such things in the past, and she had been alive the next morning regardless — that would most likely be the case now.  
He spent the rest of his shift more concerned than he thought he should be. He had a fairly nice department overseer — if he asked, he would probably be let go to give his mother his last farewells. But he kept convincing himself that she would still be alive in the morning and he could visit her then. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure of that at all, he just didn’t want to believe that they were finally close to losing her.  
That night when his shift ended, he collected his things and went out to his car. He got into it and pulled out his phone to check his text messages before he started home. When he opened his new messages, he froze. His phone slipped right out his hand and hit the floor of his car. “No…”

Roman Baxter: lo  
Roman Baxter: logan answer  
Roman Baxter: logan  
Roman Baxter: shesgone


	2. Part Two

Logan shot to his feet and rushed to the door, swinging it open. A sad smile managed to invade his features. “Roman.” He sighed. “I’m glad you made the trip safely. Come in, come in, I’m sure you could do with a quick moment before we unload your belongings. Have you had anything to eat? Would you like a mug of coffee?”  
He sighed. “Uh, yeah, coffee. Coffee sounds great… I haven’t slept much. Oh, is it alright if Willie comes in for a bit?”  
“Yes, yes, of course, just for today it’s fine… Um, the kitchen is just through here…”  
He followed him to the kitchen, trailed by his black and grey collie, where he was handed a mug of hot coffee. Logan opened the fridge for him and offered him creamer, but he denied it. “I apologize for the temperature. I kept the pot on warm, but I expected your arrival earlier, so…”  
“No, no, it’s fine. It’s great.” Suddenly, Willie rushed up to Logan and had to be called back over to Roman’s side — while Logan wasn’t at all against pets, he had never actually had one before, and thus was a little uncomfortable with his brother’s collie. “Hey, Lo?”  
“Yes?”  
“Just, thank you. Really, for lettin’ me come stay with you.”  
“Of course. You’re my brother, it was all I could do to offer.”  
“Yeah, I know. Just, still. Thanks.”  
“Well… you’re very welcome, then. It will be good for the both of us to have company while…”  
“Yeah…”  
Logan cleared his throat to break the awkward silence. “Well, shall I give you a tour, then, before we unload anything?”  
“Oh, yeah, that’d be great. Oh, by the way, what happened to that property just down the road of here?”  
“That house caught fire five days ago.”  
“Dang, that’s like… that just happened. Do they know what caused it?”  
He shook his head. “According to their evidence, there was no cause. Unless the cause was an object that was charred beyond recognition during the event.”  
“That’s insane… Did everyone make it out okay?”  
“Thankfully, yes, there were no fatalities…”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took two days for the humans to finally stop coming. They had come in groups wearing odd suits to sift through the piles of charred wreckage. For what, the two littles didn’t want to imagine. Although, logically, they were probably trying to find what started the fire in the first place. But the cousins didn’t care why they were there, they were just terrified to the bone that they were. But they never voiced their true concerns to each other, because neither was sure if they would be able to say out loud what they were thinking — what if the humans found their bodies? They didn’t need to say it, though, they both knew they were thinking the same thing. But they waited anyway with bated breath, watching intently as the humans dug and dug through what used to be a building, what used to be the house that contained their own home, knowing that every second they stayed and watched and waited they were putting their entire species at risk. But they had to know. They had to see for themselves that there was nothing left. That there was no one left. If someone else had been outside when the fire started, they would have come back here. They had to be sure. So, they both waited. On the second day, Virgil took watch of the human’s actions alone. It had been just over a day at that point since they had eaten last and they were both nauseated with hunger, but his cousin had an extremely delicate stomach and spent the majority of the day hiding in the shack throwing up. But on the third day, not a single human arrived. They stayed back and watched the entire day until finally it got dark and they fell asleep that night just a tiny bit hopeful. In the morning the humans, once again, did not show up, so they set out for the ruined building. When they got there they decided to split up so they could cover more ground. Patton took the job of searching through what remained of the building, leaving Virgil to search the areas around the rubble in case anyone survived and was hiding out like they had been. Humans were fairly adept at finding things they weren’t supposed to, so Patton hadn’t expected to find anything, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed when he had to return to the shack empty-handed. When he got back, he called out for his cousin but got no response. He must not be back yet. They had agreed to meet back at the shack when it got dark… Maybe he was still on his way. So Patton sat down and waited for him, and waited for him, and finally gave up and decided to go out to look for him. When he finally found him nearly an hour later, he had to put a hand over his mouth to keep himself from bursting into a whole new kind of sobbing. His cousin was asleep, curled up around the end of a fallen reed beside the lake. He had a chunk of metal squeezed between his body and the reed. How had something so specific survived? The metal was the broken tip of a nail that was about the length of their forearm. Virgil had had it as long as he could remember, and here it was still, somehow still here after such a devastation. He’d always called it his stress totem. It was a comfort object he always kept with him when he slept, so he could fall asleep within the walls. Patton couldn’t hold it in any longer. He collapsed to his knees at his cousin’s side and burst into sobs. After a while a dry voice interrupted him. “Pat?”  
He looked up. “Hey, Virge. How’d you find that?”  
“It must have fallen right outta the rubble — it was just sitting here.”   
They were both silent for a long time. “I… didn’t find anything…”  
“Neither did I… No one is… No one else…”   
Survived.  
“Yeah… Virge, I… We have to leave…”  
“I know… We have to eat…”  
But why? Why shouldn’t we just starve to death? Without them… what’s the point of living?  
“But before we do… can we say goodbye?”  
Patton nodded. “Yeah. We can do that. Do you wanna go up to the… the house?”  
He shook his head and slowly stood up, stress totem in his hands. “I wanna bury it. Here, at the lake.”  
“But that’s your totem! You don’t wanna take it with?”  
He shook his head again. “It’s…” He let out a few sobs. “It feels too much like home.”  
“Okay… Okay, let’s do that then. Right here?” He gestured to the ground in front of him.  
“Yeah.” So they both got on their knees and started digging. They shouldn’t be burying a piece of metal right now, no matter how significant. They shouldn’t be burying a thing in place of their family. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. When they were finished, Patton let his head hit the small mound, sobs tearing from his throat relentlessly.   
“It’s not fair! Why couldn’t I find them?! Why weren’t they…” He broke off and for a moment he let himself sob. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I tried. I tried to find you, I tried! I’m sorry, Mamma! And - and Dad, and… and Aunt Ness, and Uncle Mark, and Grandma, and-” He beat both fists on the mound on either side of his head. “I’m so sorry…”  
Virgil let himself bend double, tucking his head against his knees and gripping the end of his tail. Everything hurt. Everything hurt so bad. He dug one hand into his chest, tearing a hole in the fabric. It ached. He felt like his whole body was trying to implode, like if he let it his body would crush itself in an attempt to numb the pain. His throat throbbed and he pushed out every sob as hard as he could, howling with each one, but it wasn’t enough. It still hurt.  
They stayed there until they fell asleep, and then they set out first thing the next morning. Day five. Virgil woke up to his cousin shaking his shoulders. “Virge? You awake?”  
He groaned. “What?”  
“We need to get going. One of us is gonna get sick if we don’t eat something soon. Come on, if we get moving right away we can get to the other house before it gets dark.”  
He groaned tearfully. “I don’t wanna leave.” He pressed his face into the makeshift grave. “I don’t wanna go to another house. Why can’t we just stay here?”  
“Because there’s no way to get food here. We’ll starve if we stay here.”  
“So?”  
Patton sighed and pulled his cousin into a hug. “I know… But they wouldn’t want that, Virge. You know they wouldn’t…”  
“I know, I just…” He squeezed Patton back as tight as he could. “How can we just… keep living?”  
“I don’t know yet… But we’ll figure that out together, alright? I know it doesn’t feel like you have anything left to live for, but you do. You have me. You gotta keep fighting for me, alright? Even if you don’t care about yourself, I do. And I need you to get through this. I can’t do this alone…” When Virgil seemed about to argue a point, Patton continued. “Virge, I can’t do this without you. So if you can’t… keep going, then fine. But you’ll be taking me down with you.”  
Virgil’s shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I wasn’t - I just...”  
“Hey, it’s alright, I get it. It’s alright. It’s alright, it’s gonna be okay. Alright? It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna make it through this. But only if we do it together.” Virgil nodded against his shoulder. “Okay. Let’s get a drink before we go. We don’t know how long it’ll be until we get to drink something again.” They broke apart and knelt down beside the lake. Five minutes later, they were off, walking side-by-side, with nothing but each other and the clothes on their backs.  
They arrived that evening, only to find the front of the building littered with huge plastic bins and furniture. That was weird. Based on the stories their parents used to overhear from the humans, this house was completely uneventful. They jumped behind a bin and peeked around the corner as the front door of the house opened and out came the residents. Immediately they felt their hearts hit their ankles. Not only was their only supposed to be one human living here, and there were now two, but worse yet there was a dog. There was a dog. A really big dog. A really big dog that was coming this way. Virgil turned and stared Patton dead in the eyes, then counted down with his fingers. Three… Two… One! They made a bolt for the corner of the house. They just had to get far enough away that they couldn’t be smelled. They didn’t stop running until they were around the entire opposite side of the house, where they slowed to a stop, panting. “Do you think we lost it?”  
“Yeah, I think so… When did this place get a dog?!”  
“I don’t know. Pat, are you sure this place is our only option?”  
“There’s nowhere else around for miles, Virge, you know we can’t get that far… It has to be here. We have to find a way inside.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Willie! Willie, get back here!” Roman groaned and clicked a quick tune, making his dog stop and turn back to look at him. “Yeah, you! Get back here!” Willie whined and looked behind him as the miniature creatures escaped around the house. “No! I don’t care what you found, get back over here where I can watch you!” Slowly, Willie trudged back over. “Jeez, he never chases stuff like that…”  
“He’s probably stressed.”  
“Stressed? Why? He loves car rides.”  
“Most dog’s moods are heavily impacted by those of their owners.”  
“So he’s stressed out because he can tell I am, huh? That’s kinda sweet.”  
“Dogs are extremely impressionable, so he simply picked up on your mood. Are we moving the dresser next?”  
“Uh, sure.”  
It didn’t take them very long to move all of his belongings to his new bedroom. Once they were done, they moved in the few boxes of things they had kept of their mother’s and their mother’s china hutch and left them in the living room. “It’s getting late. Should we stop for dinner before rearranging anything?”  
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”  
They both went to the kitchen, followed by Willie. “Any requests?”  
“I really don’t care.”  
“Is simple alright for tonight?”  
“Oh, yeah, I’ll eat whatever. You know you can do whatever when it’s just me.”  
“Right…”  
“Actually, why don’t I just make us something? And you can go sit for a minute.”  
“I’m at least going to help you. Whether or not you’re my brother doesn’t change the fact that you are still my guest.”  
“Fine. You wanna get out stuff for grilled cheese then?”  
They got everything out and in a few minutes, they were sitting down to dinner. “Hey, Lo? I know I said it earlier, but just… thanks again, for letting me stay. I know I should have moved out forever ago…”  
“Roman, I know that I can sometimes be overbearing in my opinions, but you are only nineteen. However positive it would affect your future, it is not imperative that you have a job or your own residence. Neither of those things should be what validates you as a person.”  
Roman sighed. “Thanks… I really just… I feel bad, ya know? Having to take over your place like this.”  
“Why?”  
“I… I don’t know…”  
“Then what reason do you have to continue to feel this way? What’s keeping you from stopping feeling this way right now?”  
He let out a chuckle. “That’s just like you, goin’ all psychology on me.”  
“That wasn’t psychology, it was common sense.”  
“It was psychology, you’re just the kinda freak who doesn’t have to learn it!”  
“You’re just jealous that you lack the level of common intelligence I have.”  
“I’m not jealous, I’m grateful.” Logan looked purely insulted.  
Once they had finished eating, Roman went to his new bedroom upstairs to organize his belongings while Logan took care of the dishes and rearranged to fit their mother’s china hutch somewhere. When he slid it into place in the dining room, he moved both small boxes of their mother’s belongings to the dining room and started sorting through it all, loading most of it into the china hutch. It wasn’t until he was unloading the second box that he stopped. He had picked up a tiny felt-covered box. He knew what it was before he opened it — her wedding ring. Their father had passed away when they were both still very young. Neither of them remembered him at all. But she would often get sentimental when it got too late into the night and go on and on and on about her husband, about how he was so excited to be a father, about how he would sing to her every night, about how much she hated his favorite TV show but watched it with him anyway because he was worth it, etc, etc. Logan brushed a hand across his face and realized he was crying. He folded his glasses and set them on the table, then sat down and rested his head in his hands. Why did this have to be so hard? He wasn’t sure how long he sat there like that, but at some point, his brother’s dog had come down to greet him and gently set it’s head on his leg. He sighed and wiped his eyes with the edge of his shirt. “Hello, Willie.” Immediately the dog perked up and spun a circle, wagging its tail madly. “What’s gotten you so excited?” Willie barked and spun a few more circles, then bounced between feet and whined, pacing to the living room and back. “Are you asking to be let outside?” At that, Willie barked excitedly and ran right up to him, jumping up and pouncing his front legs on his side. “Okay, okay! Um, down!” Willie obeyed and ran right back to the kitchen door this time, spinning circles all the while. “Alright, alright.” Logan put his glasses back on and let Willie out the back door, through the kitchen. Leaving the door open to hopefully let some of the cool breezes inside, he sat down on the steps of the back porch, closing his eyes against the breeze. Letting himself get worked up had made his face hot, and his eyes were sore. He would not be doing that again if he had any say in the matter.


	3. Part Three

They were finally past the last step, finally on the porch itself, and it had taken them nearly half an hour to climb three steps. They were both leaning against the wall of the building, panting, exhausted from their climb. Which they both knew wasn’t right. Littles were born to climb, and normally those three steps would have been easy. They were both starting to get weak. They needed food, and quickly. Suddenly they heard something loud from inside the house. Something large moving a lot. Running? Running in circles? Then, whoosh! The door right beside them swung open and the huge dog from earlier rushed out and ran right past them, followed moments after by a human. They… hadn’t been seen? The dog didn’t so much as look back at them. After a few moments, Patton allowed himself to breathe and grabbed Virgil’s hand, pulling him inside, only to dart under a nearby stand as another human walked into the room with a large silver dish of some sort. The human’s booming voice echoed out through the room. “Willie?”  
“He’s out with me,” the first human called.  
“Alright. I was just bringin’ his food down.” Then the human dropped the huge dish beside the stand they were hiding under and left. They waited nearly two minutes, frozen in terror, then Patton shook himself out of it and rushed out to the dish. He climbed the side of it and grabbed as many of the round pieces as he could, which was only four, before running back to his cousin. That’s when he noticed the stand they had hidden under just so happened to have a wall vent right under it. “That’s our way in.” Breathing heavily from adrenaline, he handed his cousin two of the pieces and guided him to the vent. “Virge, are you okay? Can you breathe for me? Do you hear me?” Finally, his cousin looked over at him, clutching the food pieces tightly. “There you are. I need you to breathe for me, okay? We have to get out of the open before the dog comes back.” He nodded slowly and took a deep breath, then held it as Patton counted down, then slowly let it back out and glanced back at the vent. “We have to move, Virge. Can you do it?” He nodded firmly, then traced his free hand under his eye and to his ear. “There you go, Warrior. Are you ready to fight it?” He nodded firmly and Patton gave him a lift into the vent. “Hey, you’re in! The hardest part’s over!” He flinched at the distinct sound of claws hitting wood, then quickly shoved his two pieces into the vent and took his cousin’s hand, pulling him up just as the dog pounced inside. They both scrambled to the left of the vent as they heard the dog sniffing under the stand, clearly either having heard them or able to smell them there. The human said something to it, and after a few moments, it abandoned the vent to sniff at its food bowl. Finally, the two littles sighed and looked at each other. It wasn’t a smile they shared, it wasn’t relief, it wasn’t even fear, it was exhaustion. Pure exhaustion. They didn’t even have the energy to eat, they just lay limp against the wall, letting the food pieces roll to their feet. Patton looked over at his cousin to see him rigid, not moving an inch, barely breathing, eyes flickering back and forth, looking at the wall behind them at least once every three seconds. Too exhausted to come up with something to say, Patton wrapped his tail around Virgil’s and let his eyes close.  
Patton eased his eyes open, blinking against the darkness. Where was he? He looked around himself. Firstly, he noticed Virgil was wrapped around him, legs tangled in his, arms wrapped tight around his middle, tail tangled in his own. He could hear and feel Virgil’s chest heaving rapidly. Next, he noticed they were inside a wall. How had they gotten here? Had they left their makeshift gravesite? Where were they? Slowly, the previous day came back to him and he hugged Virgil back. He felt so weak. Not tired, just… weak. Every muscle felt melded into place, every limb felt like solid metal. Groaning quietly, he lay still and waited for his cousin to wake up. Nearly an hour later, Virgil moaned and shifted, untangling one leg and pulling an arm away. “Hey, Warrior.” He groaned again and rolled over, untangling from Patton and forcing his eyes open. “How are you doing?” For a moment he stared blankly, then he slowly blinked, then in one move, he launched for the closest piece of food they had and bit into it. Sighing, Patton did the same. He had been waiting until Virgil woke up to eat since he was afraid he would wake him up if he moved him. They both tore through both pieces, nauseous again as soon as they had taken their first bite. They weren’t even sure what it had tasted like, or if it had had a flavor at all, they ate so fast. And when they were finished they were both still nauseous with hunger. Patton looked over at the vent. It was casting dim rays of light into the wall — it was daylight again. Carefully, he crawled in front of the vent and peeked out.  
“Be careful!”  
He nodded seriously and poked his head halfway through the vent cover to look over at where the dish had been the night before. It was gone. He popped back in and shook his head. “It’s gone. I’ll have to go out…”  
Virgil immediately stiffened and shook his head vigorously. “Wh-What if one of them comes in? What if they see you?!”  
“I’ll be careful.” He stared at the vent, trying to push down the sinking dread in his chest. “If I don’t go out, we’ll starve in here. Just stay here, alright? And I’ll be right back.”  
He shook his head. “But… what if something happens?”  
“I won’t let anything happen. I’m not going to let you lose anyone else. Okay?” Virgil had never seen Patton say anything so seriously in his life, so he nodded once, and Patton slipped out of the vent. Slowly, he took a step forward and looked around. The lights were turned off, and the room was empty. He waited silently, even held his breath for a moment, but couldn’t hear a sound. Did that mean the humans were all asleep? He stepped out from under the stand and looked around the room, desperately trying to get his heart to stop beating so fast. The coast looked clear. He took a deep breath. Okay. Cupboards. He had to get to the cupboards. He looked over the lower ones first, and to his relief, there was one sitting just a crack open. He glanced around one more time, then made a bolt for it. He ducked around the cupboard door and climbed straight into the cupboard, then bent over for a second to catch his breath before looking around. Whatever the ginormous things in this cupboard were, they were not edible, so he turned and started walking. Thankfully these cupboards weren’t separated. He passed four more cupboard doors before finally, he hit the jackpot. Sitting before him were bags of rice, piled higher than two of him, but laying beside those was a half-empty bag inside another bag with some sort of sealed end. The humans would probably notice if he bit through the bag… But the humans had to get to the rice somehow… He stepped over to the sealed end and noticed that the entire end after the blue strip was split in two! It had to have something to do with these two colored strips… He pushed back the two sides and took a closer look at where the two colors met. They were clicked in place against each other, but nothing seemed to be holding them together. Which meant if he could just force them apart… He launched his teeth between the two colored strips and pulled, and pushed, and struggled back and forth, and finally, a tiny spot let go. That was all he needed. He forced both hands into the opening and shoved, and it spread easily. Finally, he was able to crawl inside the bag and start unrolling the rice bag. He shoved as many grains as he could into his arms, even shoved a few extra halfway into his mouth, then turned back the way he’d come and headed back to the open cupboard door. Four closed doors later he peeked cautiously around the open one and glanced into the room. Still empty. Very slowly, he sat down and slid out of the cupboard, then peeked around the corner and made sure it still looked safe before heading back.  
“Pat! Patton, you’re okay!” He nodded, trying to smile around the rice. He passed the grains up one by one, then climbed up himself.  
“Look at how much I got! One of the storage units right on the floor was open.”  
“And you’re sure there weren’t any humans?”  
“Pretty darn. I checked a million times, plus there wasn’t any sound, so either the humans are asleep or not in the house.”  
Virgil sighed audibly. “Did you leave anything that might set them off?”  
Patton shook his head. “I didn’t have to chew through the bag or anything.”  
“Okay… That’s good…” Patton smiled and handed him a grain of rice, and he nodded and took it. “Okay…”  
They both ate their fill, leaving a skimp two grains left, then decided to explore the walls a bit. Well, Patton did. Virgil couldn’t get very far from the vent cover without having a panic attack, so he stayed back and slept most of the day. Patton returned in the afternoon to report his progress. He’d been through more than half of the first floor, and so far there had been a vent in each room, even a second one in the living room. He rushed back to tell his cousin when one of the humans left. “Pat! Where have you been?!”  
“I told you I was going exploring, didn't I…?”  
“Yeah, but you didn’t say you were gonna be gone more than half the day!”  
“Oh, has it been that long already? Sorry, Virge, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”  
“I wasn’t scared, I was just… worried is all…”  
“Either way, sorry. But I brought good news! There’s vents everywhere in this place! So we’ll barely have to go out in the open, and we’ll be able to watch everything! Oh, and guess what?” He grinned at his cousin until he sighed and tilted his head in question. “One of the humans left! Just a few minutes ago! Now’s the perfect time to go out scavenging!” Virgil’s face dropped. “I meant me! You don’t have to go anywhere!”  
He sighed.”I know you meant you. That’s the problem…”  
“I’ll be careful…”  
“I know you will. But…”  
Patton smiled and set a hand on his shoulder. “I know. I’ll be as quick as I can, I promise. And if I run into any problems I’ll come right back. Alright?”  
Virgil sighed. “Fine. You’re coming right back though.”  
“I promise.” Patton smiled at him one more time, then slid out of the vent, and just like that he was gone.  
Virgil stared frozen at the vent. What if that was the last time he’d ever see him? What if he got caught? What if something happened and he got hurt? What if he never came back through that vent? He stared intently at the vent until, a few minutes later, he saw a grain of rice shoved through it, then another, and another, and he rushed over and peered through. “You’re okay!”  
“Course I am! I told you, I’m not gonna let you be alone. Nothing’s gonna happen to me.” Letting out a yawn, he piled the rice and settled beside Virgil. They both ate until they couldn’t eat another bite, then fell asleep.  
Patton stretched and sat up. What time was it? The wall was nearly pitch black. He glanced beside him. Virgil was still asleep. He smiled. It was nice to see Virgil looking peaceful for once. Before that train of thought could get too far another one interrupted. If Virgil was still asleep, would the humans both be asleep right now? He carefully inched away from his cousin, towards the vent, and slid out of it. He could go scavenging now while Virgil was asleep and then he wouldn’t scare him so bad. It was perfect! But when he looked out across the kitchen every cupboard was closed. He would have to climb the counter. He carefully planned his route, then got to work. Once he was on the counter, he looked around and found a box of... cereal? Whatever it was, it had been left out right where he could get to it easily, but before he reached it he heard footsteps and jumped behind a toaster near the wall. His heart was racing. Was that what he thought it was? The footsteps sounded like they were getting closer, and then he knew they were getting closer.  
Logan yawned and stepped into the kitchen. He really should be sleeping, given how late it was. But as tired as he was, every time he tried to sleep he was hit with memories from his childhood and couldn’t get his mother’s voice out of his head. So he’d stayed up the entire night and now half of the morning sketching. It was a hobby he hadn’t exercised for quite some time now. Glancing at the clock on the stove, he sighed. It was four-thirty-six. He really should be sleeping. Oh well. He stepped over to the counter and emptied his tabletop trash bin, then set it down and opened the fridge for some inspiration. He finally decided to make a protein shake and began getting out ingredients. When he was done he rinsed out the blender, put everything away, and left. It took him until he’d taken his first few steps up the stairwell to realize he’d forgotten his miniature trash can and he turned back.  
Patton sighed audibly when he finally left. His heart was still racing and his limbs felt like jelly but he forced himself to step out from behind the toaster and towards the box of cereal. He was almost there when the footsteps came back. What?! He looked around frantically. The toaster was too far away! He needed different coverage. Then he spotted a small container of some sort and ran over to it, leaping over the edge into it.  
Logan grabbed his bin and started back, but he only took a few steps when he realized the bin felt too heavy for just being emptied and stopped. He looked down and half dropped it. His brain did backflips. What was that?! He stared down at it, eyes wide, and it stared back, eyes wide behind round wooden frames, shaking head-to-toe. He had to have stood there staring at this tiny creature for at least five minutes until he finally reacted. He shook his head and went straight back up to his room, where he set the bin on his dresser and sat down, leaning in closer to stare at it. “What… are you?” He couldn’t have said why he had asked the question — whatever this creature was assumedly didn’t speak English so it couldn’t answer him. A moment later it did exactly that, causing him to flinch back.  
“Please… don’t hurt me.”  
Blinking, he stared down at the creature. Did it just… speak? To him? No, it was sleep deprivation getting to him, that’s what this entire thing was. Realizing he’d been staring off to the side at the wall, he directed his gaze back to the empty bin. Empty. Nothing was even there. Of course. He just needed sleep. Shaking his head, he stepped back and pulled open a drawer for pajamas.  
Once Patton had gotten safely into the vent, he let himself collapse against the inside of the wall. He didn’t know how long he sat there until he could control his shaking limbs again, but when he finally got back on his feet and started to wander through the walls he was falling asleep. He barely made it back to Virgil an hour and a half later without falling asleep mid-step partway there, and when he finally did he was relieved to see his cousin still fast asleep. He wasn’t going to know anything about what had just happened. There was no way he could tell him anything. Virgil would never let him go out scavenging again if he heard about any of this. So, still shaking violently, Patton laid back down beside him and stared at the other side of the wall, adrenaline keeping him wide-awake.  
Logan couldn’t get that image out of his head. He had the day off of work, so he’d been sleeping in, and he was almost afraid to check what time it was. He knew it was much too late in the day. Roman was almost definitely up by now. He closed his eyes and once again saw the images that had plagued him last night. Something resembling a human, but roughly five inches tall and with a tail that ended in a small puff of fur staring up at him from his tabletop trash bin, chest heaving, clearly terrified. He wasn’t sure why it had bothered him so much that the tiny creature seemed so terrified. He shook his head and got off his bed, only to freeze, staring at the miniature bin. It was empty, obviously. After all, there had of course not actually been a tiny humanoid mouse-like creature in his house last night — that was impossible. Taking a deep breath, he turned to his dresser and got dressed for the day before heading downstairs, where he found his brother sitting on the couch staring at the wall to his left blankly. “Oh, Logan. I hope you don't mind but I used a few eggs for breakfast. I left you a plate on the counter though."  
"Oh. That is… quite satisfactory. Um, thank you." Logan was so emotionally drained from his night full of painful childhood memories that he was planning on not eating at all, despite the fact that he was in fact hungry.   
Roman forced a smile. "Sure." But just as Logan began to head towards the kitchen Roman spoke up again, stopping him. "Uh, Lo? One more thing. Uh… I heard you up really late last night. I, uh, just wanted to make sure you're alright and stuff."  
"Oh. Yes, of course. I was simply experiencing some slight insomnia. Although, I do not recall hearing you up late as well... "  
"Oh, no, I slept. I just heard you moving around and stuff 'cause I got up to use the bathroom."  
"Ah. Well, in any case, yes, I am quite alright. Simply… tired." With that, he went to the kitchen where there was a full plate on the counter, just as Roman had said. But as he reached out for it he froze, eyes fixed on a spot on the edge of the counter. He leaned closer and squinted at it, and his eyes went wide. It was… There was a tiny footprint, right there on the edge of the counter. His heart raced. That was definitely a footprint. Then does that mean…? Was last night…? Was that real?! That could be anything else, though. It's not actually a miniature footprint. But the longer he stared at it the more he couldn't ignore how uncannily like a footprint it looked. That couldn't have been real. There's no way. There's just no way. If creatures like that did exist, then humanity would surely know about them by now. Right? Unless… had he just discovered a new species?! His heart did somersaults at the thought. No, he couldn’t get ahead of himself. Of course, he hadn’t discovered a new species. That was simply absurd. But… if there was even the slightest chance that he had? He had to know for sure. But how…? He couldn’t try to see the creature again in person. After the face he couldn’t get out of his head, it would surely run before he even got close to the kitchen again. He could try to lure it towards him? No, that wouldn’t work until he knew more about it. He had no idea what to even lure it with, or where it had come from. That was another problem. Did it live on his property somewhere? Or was it a traveling creature? Would it even still be here for Logan to be able to get proof of? He shook his head. He would not be deterred so easily. He had to at least try to see the creature again. But how? If only he had taken a photo or a video of it! If he had captured it on camera… wait. Camera. He could capture it on camera! If he set up a hidden camera then the tiny creature would have no idea he was being watched but Logan could record everything. He would know if the creature emerged again because he could watch over every second of every night. It was perfect! He considered telling Roman of his plan, but immediately backtracked on that idea when he thought of how Roman would tease him about it. Especially since he currently had no proof whatsoever to back up his claims. So for now it would have to remain a secret.


	4. Part Four

Patton had finally fallen asleep hours later, only to be woken by a shrill screaming. He shot up and immediately recognized the scream as his cousin’s. “Virgil!” He tried to grab Virgil, to pull him into a hug, to calm him down, but Virgil was thrashing violently and Patton was kicked away. “Virgil! Virge, wake up! Virgil!”  
Virgil shot up with a gasp and looked around frantically, breathing heavily, tears running down his face. “No! No, no, no!”  
“Virgil. You’re okay, I’m right here.” Patton grabbed Virgil’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug. He could feel Virgil still looking around frantically, hands grasping nothing, panting against adrenaline. “It’s okay. I’m here. It was just a bad dream. Just a dream, Kiddo. None of it was real, none of that was happening. You’re still here, at the new house, with me.”   
Virgil started breathing faster in an attempt to calm himself and, crying loudly, he hugged Patton back. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Pat.”  
“Hey, don’t apologize. It was just a nightmare. You did nothing wrong, alright?” Virgil nodded against his shoulder.  
“I’m sorry.” He pushed away from Patton and grabbed the end of his tail for comfort. “I got your shirt soaked…”  
Patton smiled gently. “I’ll dry.”  
Virgil chuckled. “Yeah… Sorry I woke you up.”  
“I’m fine, Kiddo. I'll do anything that’ll help you, okay? Besides, it’s just a little bit of sleep loss. If that’s the least of my issues, then I call that a pretty good success.” Patton knew full well that he had much bigger problems than sleep deprivation, but if he could help it, Virgil would never know that he had been seen. Ever.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Logan sighed as he pulled out of his driveway. It had been two weeks since he’d set up the surveillance system. When he set it up, he thought he was being ridiculous. The creature he discovered was most likely the product of a sleep-deprived hallucination. But the next morning he had checked the footage and there was the creature again. Over the next two weeks the tiny person had shown up in the kitchen alone eight different nights. He had no cameras set up anywhere else in the house, so there was no telling where else the creature was going. The first thing he noticed while watching the cameras was that there was only one of these creatures venturing out into the camera’s range, but the amount of food he was collecting could easily be for multiple people, unless the creature was stocking up. There was also the fact that he didn’t know anything about this species, so there was also the possibility that this species simply required that much intake. The next thing he noticed was that the creature was slightly clumsy and clearly didn’t have any experience whatsoever in these trips he was making. The tiny person clearly had no idea what he was doing.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Patton was starting to wonder if that night had been a nightmare or a wild hallucination of some sort. Neither of the humans had shown any sense of curiosity or concern at all since he had been seen. Had he dreamed it? Or had the human thought Patton had been a dream? Had he been seen and the human just hadn’t believed it? Either way, Virgil suspected nothing. Virgil was safe. That’s all that mattered. He had built some makeshift dividers and beds in the wall right beside their vent for him and Virgil, though often him and Virgil slept together on the same bed. Either way, he was proud of the clumsy start of their new home. A few times Virgil had offered to help him build, but he had refused. He knew Virgil was scared of the human’s things, and while he did want to help Virgil overcome his technitophobia, he was letting Virgil work on it in baby steps. They were in a new place, an unfamiliar place, with new human things that Virgil wasn’t familiar with. Virgil had been, needless to say, very stressed.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roman had finally emerged from his room again for a late lunch not long after Logan had left for work. He had been having a bit of a rough day and had been hiding in his room. When he finished he went to the living room, planning on turning on the tv. He peaked over at the desk before he sat down for tv to make sure Logan hadn’t left something laying out, and his jaw dropped. The computer had been left open, turned on, a clip of footage paused. He raced up closer to examine the image. That wasn’t real. No way was that real. The image was of a miniature person halfway through climbing into one of their lower cupboards. It was a bit blurry, but there was no mistaking that body. It looked perfectly human, at least from behind, except for a… tail of some kind? Shaking his head, he sat down at the desk and pulled the video back, playing it. He watched as the tiny man ran across the floor and examined the cupboards for a short moment before spotting the open one and rushing over to it. Roman shook his head. There was no way this was real. He backed out of the video and found an entire folder full of short clips. He opened the first one. It was the same tiny creature, this time climbing the counter skillfully, balancing himself on the slightest changes in the wood. He opened the next clip. This time the creature was running across the countertop. The next clip. The creature was climbing out of an open cupboard. Next, clumsily climbing into the fruit basket and climbing around in it, searching for something. Into the cupboard again. Climbing the counter. Climbing down the counter. That was all of them. Eight clips. He stared blankly at the screen, mind reeling. How did Logan get these? These weren’t real, were they? Suddenly he got an idea and played one of the clips again, studying the angle. Then he got up and went to the dining room, looking over the window-like opening in the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Finally he found it, taped onto the bottom edge of a flower vase. He stared at it for a moment, eyes wide, then rushed back to the desk and replayed all eight clips. Then played them again. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It looked so real. And Logan didn’t even like digital art, there was no way he’d animated this and cropped it in. It had to be real. But then, why? Why had he been hiding this?! Why had he kept it a secret?! How long had he been recording their kitchen at nights?! And he hadn't thought to let him know?!

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Logan pulled into his driveway and got out of his car. He was a bit concerned. He had gotten a text not long into his shift from Roman saying that they needed to talk once he got home. It sounded angry. “Roman?” He closed the door behind him and stepped forwards to where Roman was sitting on the couch. “You wanted to speak with me?”   
Roman got up silently and gestured for him to follow him into the dining room, where he pointed at the tiny camera. “I saw the footage. On your computer.” For a long moment they were both silent. “What the hell was that?! And why didn’t you tell me about this?!”  
“I haven’t told you because I wasn’t sure whether or not this creature even existed. I did not want to get you involved in something that could simply be a false alarm. I had assumed at first that I had been hallucinating.”  
“And when you knew you weren’t? When you figured out that thing is real?! Why didn’t you tell me then?!”  
“Because I still am not entirely sure what it is I’ve been seeing, or that it is real at all. I was waiting to tell you until I had some kind of proof to back up my claims. I didn’t want to concern you for my mental health.”  
“You didn’t even think to tell me that you’ve been recording footage of the kitchen every night? And for that matter how long has this been going on?!”  
“I didn’t alert you to the camera because I assumed you would want to know why I was recording my own house and I wasn’t certain about this creature yet. And I first saw this creature two weeks ago, on the first morning you woke up here. I set up the camera that night.”  
“So, wait, you’re telling me you saw this thing in person?! And you still didn’t think this thing was real?!”  
“Yes, of course, I saw it first in person. And I hadn’t gotten very much sleep that night, so I had assumed that the creature was a sleep-deprived hallucination of sorts.”  
“And what, two weeks later, after you’ve been watching clips of this thing, you still thought it was a hallucination?!”  
“It is highly likely for hallucinations to repeat themselves in many unlikely ways.”  
“Oh my gosh.” He groaned. “In the future, if you decide to record your hallucinations, can you at least tell me first?”  
Logan sighed and finally nodded. “If for any reason I set up another camera anywhere on this property, I will let you know.”  
“Okay…” Roman took a deep breath. “Okay. So all of this really just happened. And for the record, I think actual camera footage is ‘proof’ enough.”  
“Now that someone else has seen it and can agree that the content appears true, then… I suppose it is proof. So, then… I was right. That odd creature is real…”  
“Whoa… Yeah. That thing was actually real… Oh, man…”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Patton checked one more time to make sure his cousin was asleep before silently sliding out of the vent. He glanced around the room. Yup, empty. The coast was clear. The dog, whom he’d learned was named Willie, occasionally came inside during the day, but always slept outside during the nights, so thankfully he hadn’t had to worry about that so long as he waited until the humans had gone to sleep before going scavenging.  
It had been just over a month now in their new home, and Patton had finally gotten into a steady routine. He went scavenging every three days for food, for starters. He was out now. Now, over the past four days, he’d been extra cautious. Neither him nor Virgil had seen it, but there was every sign of a rat. Chewed-open bags, droppings in the cupboards, fresh scratches in the walls, torn up insulation, and yet more droppings inside the walls as well. He hadn’t seen any signs of mouse traps set up anywhere yet, though, so he wasn’t being as attentive as he probably should have been. He should have been more careful. He should have known the humans had noticed the signs as well and would have set traps out any day. He should have been more careful. But he wasn’t.  
As he was walking through one of the lower cupboards, he absently stepped over some kind of edge, and then immediately his feet and tail wouldn’t move. They were stuck on something. He slowly looked down, and his face contorted with horror. No. No, this couldn’t be… No, this wasn’t right! He struggled desperately against the thick, gooey layer, but to no avail. He continued nonetheless, tears pouring down his face. No! He’d gotten caught on a trap. Some sort of super-sticky material. This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be how he died! He couldn’t die yet! He’d promised! He’d promised Virgil he’d always come back! He’d promised! He’d promised him!  
Logan stared at the screen, perplexed. He was watching the camera footage from the night before, and he’d seen the tiny creature enter the lower cupboards, but he’d been watching and watching and he still hadn’t come back out. Why? Had he fallen asleep? Had he gotten out in some way that was out of the camera’s range? An entire living thing couldn’t simply disappear! So where was he? The only explanation Logan had was that the small thing was still inside the cupboards… But why? Unless he’d gotten trapped inside them somehow… But the cupboard the creature had entered from was still open a crack...   
Logan’s face dropped and all color drained from it in an instant. Oh, no. They’d set out traps last night. Just before they’d gone to sleep, him and Roman had set out glue traps. In the lower cupboards. He shot to his feet and raced into the kitchen, freezing in front of the cupboards. Nervously, he creaked a cupboard open and glanced inside. Oh, shit. He stared breathlessly at the image before him. The creature from all of those camera recordings was laying down with his entire body touching the middle of the trap, seemingly fast asleep. Oh, no.


	5. Part Five

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a short moment. There had to be a way to loosen the glue. He nodded to himself and went back to his computer, searching it on google.  
After a few minutes, he went back to the kitchen and gathered supplies. He nodded again after he had everything gathered together on the counter.   
He could definitely use an extra hand in this. Logan went upstairs and knocked on his brother’s door. After a few moments with no answer he let himself in and stepped over to his bed. “Roman.” He gently pushed on his shoulder. “Roman, wake up.” Roman groaned and rolled over, and Logan rolled him back to face him. “Roman, wake up. I need you.”  
Roman groaned. “Leave me alone.”  
“Roman, I would not be interrupting your sleep cycle if it wasn’t important. I need your help immediately.”  
Roman groaned again and finally opened his eyes as he sat up and shoved the covers off himself. “What’s so important?”  
“I’m sure you remember that we set up glue traps last night? In the lower cupboards?” Roman nodded, a slightly exasperated look on his face. “And you do remember the unusual creature we’ve been recording? The one who ventures into our lower cupboards some nights?”  
Roman’s face twisted into a look of horror as he connected the dots. “Oh, shit, no! You don’t actually mean…?”  
Logan nodded. “Our… housemate has gotten himself stuck on one of our traps.” Roman jumped out of bed immediately and they both went down to the kitchen. “I researched how to remove him, but I will need your assistance, especially if he wakes up, which I assume he will.” Roman nodded seriously. “Okay, first of all, I’ll need you to block the sink drain.” Roman nodded and obeyed while Logan grabbed a pair of gloves from his pile on the counter and put them on. Then he grabbed a second pair and handed them to Roman as soon as he’d finished. “Put these on before we start. I’m going to move the whole trap in a moment.” He set an empty tupperware into the sink, then bent down and carefully grabbed the very corner of the trap. Very slowly, he lifted it, slowly, slowly, until finally, he lowered it back down into the container in the sink.  
“What now?”  
Logan handed him an old towel. “I’m going to need you to cover his head and shoulders with this, but don’t push, we just want him to be covered and to keep his shoulders still so he doesn’t hurt himself. I’ll work on the rest.”  
Roman nodded, slowly lowering the towel over the miniature person. They glanced at each other and nodded. Logan grabbed the bottle of vegetable oil and began pouring a thin layer over the entire bottom of the tupperware. Then he grabbed a second towel and carefully rubbed at the edges. Then the person woke up. They heard panicked breathing and he started trying to pull away but was unable to. Logan sent Roman a quick but meaningful look, letting him know not to speak, before continuing to rub the oil into the glue layer. Slowly, it worked. The creature moved just slightly, then a little more, then a bit more, until finally, he could almost pull back.  
Logan looked at Roman firmly, then reached two fingers around the creature and tugged. He came off immediately, and Roman smoothly transferred the towel to Logan’s hands along with the creature himself, without letting the towel leave his head at all. The creature began thrashing instantly, violently, not making a sound.  
Logan quickly turned the water on low and dunked the creature and the towel he was wrapped in under the stream for a moment, eliciting a surprised cry from the tiny creature. Trying not to feel guilty, Logan rubbed the creature with the now wet towel, gently scrubbing the water in over his whole body. Logan dunked him under the water again and repeated the process a few more times before all of the oil was finally washed off.  
Finally, taking a deep breath to at least attempt to prepare his mind for whatever was about to happen, he set the boy in a second, clean container and removed the towel. The boy stared up at him and quickly scooted back into the farthest corner, shaking his head. Logan sent Roman a quick glance, warning him not to speak. He slowly slipped off his gloves and tossed them on the counter, watching Roman do the same. “My name is Logan… can you understand what I’m saying…?”  
The creature stared, frozen with horror for a few minutes, and Logan and Roman waited patiently. Finally its head jerked up and down mechanically, barely a motion at all. Logan smiled as gently as he could. “Good. As I said, my name is Logan. And this is my brother, Roman. Do your people have a concept of family?” After a long time, he repeated the same, jerky, terrified nod. “Good. That’s good. Before we continue this conversation, I want to establish that we were the ones that set that trap out… I assume you were not aware of what it was when you ventured into the cabinets?”  
The small creature sat still for a long few minutes, staring, horrified. Finally, he snapped. He shook his head violently and started sobbing openly, loudly, hands shooting to his hair, knees pulling up to his chest. Roman immediately opened his mouth to speak and took a step forward, but Logan held up a hand to stop him. So he stopped, and they both stood silently, Roman fidgeting nervously as the tiny creature sobbed and screamed fearfully. “Can’t we just-”  
Logan shushed him harshly, holding a hand up again. Roman whined in answer but stayed still and silent for the next ten minutes while they waited for the boy to calm down and tire himself out. Finally, he did. He was still squished into the corner of the tupperware, still had his knees pulled up against his chest, his tail wrapped up around one arm, and there were still silent tears running down his face, but he’d stopped screaming and sobbing and wasn’t shaking nearly as bad anymore. Logan glanced over at Roman momentarily, then lowered his voice and spoke again to the small boy. “Are you able to speak? Since you apparently understand English?”  
He stared for a while, sniffling, then the mechanical nod again. “Good. Are you considered fully mature for your people?” The boy stared silently. “Are you an adult? Fully grown?”  
He shook his head after a moment of hesitation, then hung his head, wiping at the unceasing tears. Logan was about to speak again when he held up a finger. Just one single finger. “One?” He nodded and then held up three fingers. “Three? Thirteen?” Another mechanical nod. The boy’s gaze was very firmly glued straight down. “That’s your age?” Nod. “Okay. Thank you. For listening to me. Before I say anything more, I’d like to apologize. Profusely, from both of us. We… hadn’t considered your side of things.” At those words, the boy looked from one of them to the other before a realization struck him and his eyes went wide. He slowly looked back over at Roman and shook his head, then looked back at Logan.  
Logan seemed to finally realize what the boy had figured out. “I myself did not tell him about you. He discovered you himself. Although… I’m ashamed to say if it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have discovered you at all…” Logan very quietly explained the situation. How he hadn’t believed his own eyes when he’d seen him the first time, how he’d set up cameras, how he’d accidentally left footage open on his computer, how Roman had discovered it. How they’d both forgotten about him when they’d set out the glue traps.  
When he finished, the tiny creature was shaking his head, tail flicking lightly against his arm. He shook his head harder and gestured with his hands. Logan couldn’t quite tell what he was trying to say. He waited, and the boy did it again. He held his hands up and gestured as if holding something. Logan still had no idea what he was doing, but Roman seemed to recognize the action. “Camera?” The creature nodded. “You… wanna see the footage?” Another nod.  
Roman and Logan glanced at each other, and then Logan shrugged and left to get his computer. Roman turned back to the tiny creature. “He’s gonna bring it in here.” He nodded.  
Logan returned momentarily with the laptop turned on, the first clip open and paused. He carefully set the laptop on the counter beside the tupperware the boy was in and hit play. The boy pressed his face against the plastic wall and watched intently. The clip ended. The tiny person turned and looked up at them. Roman whispered to him. “Do you wanna see the rest?”  
After a long, silent moment, the boy nodded, so Logan pulled up the next clip and hit play. Then the next, and so on. The miniature person watched intently the whole time, and when the last one ended Logan turned the computer off and closed the lid, watching as the boy turned back around and plopped back down to sit criss-cross now, staring at the container’s bottom below him. “You found what you were looking for I hope?”  
Patton looked up at him, hesitated, opened his mouth, closed it, hesitated some more… “I didn’t, actually, but that’s kinda a good thing?”  
Roman smiled. “You’re not too scared to talk to us?”  
“Well… not really. I’ve never actually met any humans before. It’s… a little scary to be honest.”  
Logan nodded. “That is perfectly understandable. Especially given the circumstances of our meeting.” Patton and Roman both nodded at that, and they all sunk into an awkward silence.  
Roman looked down at the boy. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’re not hurt? Is anything… damaged?”  
Patton glanced down awkwardly. “It’s sore… But I’ll heal. Besides, it’s not like you guys meant for me to get stuck… right?”


	6. Part Six

“No! No, of course, we didn’t! We completely forgot about you when we set out those traps, and we are both so, so sorry for that! Really! We would never knowingly put you in danger! You have my word!”  
Logan nodded beside him. “He is entirely correct. We would not have set any of those traps out had we realized what danger it would put you in. We will be removing every trap we’ve set out, of course. From this day onward, your safety will be a permanent factor in every decision I make.”  
“And me. Every decision we make, either of us. We will never put you in danger again!”  
Logan cleared his throat pointedly. “Given our size difference and… general lack of understanding for your species, I’m afraid we can’t promise that. But we can promise that, to the best of our ability, we will keep you out of harm’s way. Does that sound like an acceptable agreement?"  
Patton hesitated a moment, going over the words in his head, then he nodded. "Yeah. But… you can't…" He glanced up at them. They were both silent, looking at him expectantly. "You can't try to… I'm not sure how to say it… keep us out? So you can… see us, or…?"  
For a moment the two humans were silent. They glanced at each other, and the one called Logan looked down at him questioningly. "I'm sorry, you said us? You're not alone here?"  
Patton's eyes went wide and his tail went rigid. "No. N-No. No, you can't…" He shook his head, tears building in his voice. "You can't… you can't… you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't… No!"  
Roman lowered his voice to a whisper. "Hey, hey, it's okay. We won't try to find them. Whoever else is living here with you, we won't try to find them. I promise." Then he looked deliberately at Logan. "And we're taking that camera away too. I promise."  
Patton sniffled and looked between the two. "R-Really? You… you won't… look for him? And the… camera? It's going away? So you won't… see any more?"  
They both nodded, and Roman smiled gently. "Of course. Whatever you need! We'll do anything you want to make up for what we've done!"  
Patton relaxed finally and nodded, forcing a smile. “Okay…”  
The two humans nodded firmly and then a heavy silence settled over them and Logan and Roman glanced at each other again. Logan cleared his throat quietly. “I was hoping… to ask you for some information.”  
Patton shifted nervously, tail moving to curl around his ankle. “What kinda information?”  
“I would like to know where you live. Precisely.”  
What?! A million terrible scenarios ran through Patton’s mind and he had to force himself to think. “Wh-Why?”  
Under the stares of both the miniature person and his brother, Logan was quick to explain himself. “My brother’s dog.”  
Roman gasped. “Oh, yeah! Willie!” He stared intently at Patton. “He’s never bothered you or your friend? Caused you harm?!”  
“Um… he’s never hurt us, no. I think he can… smell us sometimes though… He, um… he waits for me sometimes. And scratches at the…”  
Both Roman and Logan’s eyes widened and their gaze shot to the wall vent under the small stand beside the back door. There were a few scratches on the wall around the edges of the vent, but the dog had mostly been scratching the vent itself lately. They had both been completely bewildered as to why, because he’d never scratched things much before and he seemed obsessed with that vent, until now. “That…” Logan didn’t even look back to the kid, his gaze still on the vent, mind rushing to put every little piece together. “That’s where you live. In the wall. Behind that vent.”  
Roman looked at the miniature creature, who was staring at them with a very mixed expression on his face. “That explains everything! That explains everything with Willie! Why he’s been scratching at that vent, why he won’t listen to me in the kitchen, why he keeps sticking his head under that table, why he’s been distracted… he’s been trying to…” Roman’s face paled. “He’s been trying to get to you. Oh, no. Logan.”  
Logan nodded and looked over. “I know, Roman. We’ll have to... We’ll have to block off the kitchen. I’m going to buy a gate, and I’ll install it today. From now on Willie will be let outside through the front door only and he will be fed either outside or in a different room. Understood?”  
Roman nodded vigorously. “Yes! Yes, of course! I would have done exactly so myself even if you hadn’t just made me! In fact, I was going to suggest he… actually stay outside all the time.”


End file.
